Fallout
by BexTheLabRat
Summary: With Gibbs struggling to deal with Director Shepard's death, it's up to Tony to find a way of keeping the team together. Starts during the last scene of Judgement Day. Finally complete!
1. Chapter 1

'Agent Gibbs, meet your new team.'

Special agent Anthony DiNozzo stared in shock as the new director handed three files to the man who had, up until thirty seconds ago, been his team leader. He didn't care if Vance had just been promoted to the president of the United States – the bastard had no right to split up the best goddamned investigative team in NCIS. Surely Gibbs wasn't just going to stand there and take this? As if in answer to DiNozzo's silent question, Gibbs took one look at the files in his hand and dropped them back on the desk in front of the director.

'Go to hell, Leon.' With those four words he turned and stormed through the open doorway behind him, denied the satisfaction of slamming the door in Vance's face by the close proximity of his team behind him. He kept walking, immune to the sounds of their voices begging for answers. He didn't have any answers to give them. He was overwhelmed with the need to get out of the building. He ran down the stairwell, got into his car and drove away, ignoring the pleas of the people behind him.

It wasn't long before DiNozzo found him sitting on the floor of his basement staring blankly forward. He had known that one of them would come and hadn't really been surprised when he discovered it was Tony. The younger man had worked for him for longer than any other agent and over the years they had become friends. Gibbs didn't move as DiNozzo sat down on the floor next to him.

'I'm sorry, boss. If I hadn't let the director talk me into…' Gibbs let out a sigh and dropped his head to his knees.

'I'm only going to say this one more time, DiNozzo. This was not your fault. Jen knew exactly what she was doing and if you'd followed her, chances are she wouldn't be the only one who ended up dead.' He sighed again and lapsed into silence again, continuing to rest his head against his knees. Noticing the aura of defeat emanating from his friend, the younger agent decided to put his guilt aside and for the moment focus on getting his team back.

'Are you all right, boss?' As soon as the words had left his mouth Tony was aware of the absurdity of the question.

'I don't think I can do this any more, DiNozzo.' The despair in the older man's voice tore at his younger friend's heart.

'You loved her didn't you?' Gibbs nodded slowly.

'I thought I was over her a long time ago, but recently…'

'She was one hell of a woman,' DiNozzo agreed, 'and she wouldn't have wanted you to fall apart because of her. She'd have wanted you out there leading your team and fighting Vance every step of the way.'

'I'm sorry Tony, I just can't.' For the first time DiNozzo took in not only the lines of exhaustion in the older man's face but the ghostly white pallor of his skin. The man was clearly close to the limits of both his physical and emotional endurance. He leaned forward to take a closer look at his friend.

'When was the last time you slept, Gibbs? Or consumed something without caffeine in it?'

'Tony…' The younger man ignored the warning tone in Gibbs' voice and placed the back of his hand gently but firmly on the older man's forehead.

'You have a fever, Gibbs. Making yourself sick is not going to help anyone, least of all you.'

'I'm fine, Tony.'

'Gibbs, you are sick, you are exhausted and you've just lost the woman you loved. Now is not the time to put on the hard ass marine act. Let us help you. Let me help you. Please?' He stood and held out his hand to the older man. After a few seconds' consideration Gibbs took it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. He managed to take a few steps before his legs gave way under his weight and he collapsed against the younger agent.

'Easy Boss, I gotcha.' DiNozzo draped his friend's arm across his shoulders and virtually carried the older man up the stairs before helping him to a seat at the kitchen table. After a cursory inspection of the kitchen cupboards he managed to dig out enough ingredients to fix up a sandwich and after making sure the older man ate it, repeated his earlier feat and half dragged, half carried the exhausted man upstairs and deposited him on the bed.

'Get some sleep, Boss,' he ordered, giving the older man's shoulder a gentle squeeze, 'and don't you worry about this Vance thing. You trained the best investigative team in NCIS and we're not going to let that bastard get one over on us. When you're ready, we'll make sure you have a team to come back to.'

Gibbs looked at his friend through bleary eyes and barely managed a mumbled 'Thanks Tony,' before his head hit the pillow and he fell into an exhausted sleep.

DiNozzo looked down at his sleeping friend and smiled sadly. 'Anytime, boss,' he whispered, 'I've got your six.' With a last glance at the sleeping figure he left the room and headed back to NCIS headquarters, hoping that they would find some way for him to be able to keep his promise.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N

Thanks for all the feedback on the first chapter - I'm glad somebody liked it enough to say so :). I'm still finding my way with the characters and the storyline so hopefully I won't disappoint you. I'd probably have written more by now if I didn't have to go to work :( but I'll keep the instalments coming as quickly as possible. Thanks again! :)

--

DiNozzo had barely exited the elevator when he started issuing orders to his team. 'McGee, Ziva, grab your computer…stuff. Find Abby and meet me in the parking garage in five minutes; we've got work to do.' Startled, McGee glanced up at the senior field agent.

'But Tony…' He was cut off before he could even finish his sentence.

'McGee, do you really want to spend the rest of your life in cybergeek land, because I sure as hell aren't planning on spending the next six months of my life stuck on a goddamned boat!'

'Actually, Tony, it's a…oww! What was that for?'

'Just do it McGee. There'll be plenty of time to explain later. Right now we need to get out of here.' Without even a glance backwards he stormed off in the direction of autopsy. He needed to speak to Ducky.

--

Closer to ten minutes later, the foursome were in DiNozzo's car heading away from the building.

'Ok hotshot, what's the big plan?' McGee demanded as soon as they had reached the road.

'Well, the way I see it, the first thing we need to do is buy ourselves some time. Ziva and I could get sent away at any minute, but if Vance can't find us to deliver our orders, we can avoid it for a few days at least. I need you to log onto the NCIS mainframe and insert a couple of backdated leave requests authorised by Director Shephard. Give us a fortnight off starting tomorrow, and if anyone asks tell them we're taking a vacation together. Make sure the requests can't be traced back to you'

'And I thought cover stories were supposed to be believable,' Ziva grunted from the back seat.

'Ziva, if you'd rather be sent back to Israel in disgrace than have someone believe you fell for my charms, that's fine by me. If, on the other hand, you'd at least like to make an attempt at saving the team, suck it up and listen.' The jovial Tony was gone, replaced by the no-nonsense persona he adopted whenever things got really serious.

'Ok pseudo-Gibbs,' Abby interrupted before Ziva could turn the battle into an all-out war, 'let's say we play ball. You and Ziva are off playing house and McGee and I are sitting at our desks thinking about how much the situation sucks…and then what?'

'Then we take Vance down.'

'Um…Tony?' McGee was the first one to voice the doubts at the front of everybody's mind. 'How exactly are we going to do that?'

'I never said it was a complete plan, McGee… I'm going to need your help to fill in a few of the details. We need to stop for supplies and takeout then I want you to set up camp in Gibbs' basement. First job is to find anything, and I do mean anything, on Vance that we might be able to use. The guy's dirty – I can smell it. Like I said, we just need to fill in a few details. If you guys are as good as I think you are, we're not gonna have a problem.'

'So, no pressure,' Abby muttered from the seat next to Tony. 'Did anyone think to tell Gibbs that we're invading his basement?' All eyes turned to the senior field agent, whose eyes remained glued to the road.

'Uh, actually, Gibbs is the reason we're invading his basement. He was looking pretty sick earlier. I persuaded him to get some rest, but after everything that's happened over the past couple of weeks I think we should stay close in case he needs us.' He yelped as a hard punch to his arm momentarily distracted him from the road. 'Ouch, Abbs! What'd you hit me for?'

'That was for not telling me that Gibbs was sick. You don't want to know what I'm going to do if anything bad happened after you left him alone.' Realising the folly of starting an argument with the glaring scientist, DiNozzo wisely remained silent.

--

'Abbs, I've been gone an hour and a half, max,' DiNozzo's attempts to placate the scientist fell on deaf ears as she made a beeline for their team leader's staircase, 'I'm sure Gibbs is fine.'

'You'd better hope so, mister,' she muttered under her breath as she climbed the stairs and made her way towards the older man's room. She paused as she reached the doorway.

'Don't wake him, Abbs,' DiNozzo whispered as he came to a stop behind her. The pair looked in on a scene they had never expected to witness. Their friend was lying face up on the bed wearing only his vest and a pair of shorts, his blankets and sweatpants long-discarded on the floor. It was obvious even from a distance that he was shivering violently.

'Get me some water, Tony,' the scientist ordered in a tone that left no room for argument. She picked up the blankets and slowly wrapped them round the shaking form. 'He's burning up,' she announced, 'we need to keep him hydrated. I'm going to wake him up and try to get him to drink something.' She looked questioningly at her teammate who nodded his assent. Dropping everything she was carrying on the end of the bed, she sat down next to the sleeping form. She reached out and gently shook the older man's shoulder. 'Gibbs, wake up.'

'Not now Abbs,' the murmured response gave no indication that her order was about to be obeyed.

'C'mon Boss, you gotta be thirsty,' DiNozzo pleaded, 'just one little glass of water and we'll let you sleep as long as you want.' A pair of unfocussed eyes came to rest on the duo.

'Water?' Assuming that this was the closest thing to co-operation that the were going to get, the pair dragged their team leader to a sitting position. Abby wrapped an arm around the barely conscious man and leaned him against her for support while the younger man handed over the glass of water. When the glass was finally empty, Abby pulled Gibbs even closer and rested her head on his. Within seconds he was fast asleep.

'Abbs, I need you downstairs working on this,' Tony reminded his friend as she showed signs of settling in for the night.

'Look at him, Tony!' she countered, 'You can't expect me to leave him alone like this! He looks so…not Gibbs…'

'Ok Abby, I'll fetch your laptop,' he conceded, 'but I really do need you to work on this. Start with the director's personal files – I know you'll know where she kept them. If there's any dirt to be found on Vance, I'm sure Director Shepard would have known what it was.'

Several hours of reading later, Abby's eyes began to widen.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N

A/N. Thanks for the even more feedback. :). My quest to find out what happens seems to have resulted in another chapter. Hope you enjoy…

--

'Tony, get up here and take a look at this,' Abby ordered, 'Bring the others with you.'

'Could she not simply have come downstairs and shown us?' Ziva asked as DiNozzo hung up his cell phone with a bemused look.

'Guess not,' the senior field agent replied as the trio began the two-storey climb. 'No point trying to argue with Abby when she's in all-out mother bear mode.'

'Mother bear mode?' Ziva questioned. 'You are saying that she thinks Gibbs is one of her…cubs?'

'Must be a grizzly…' McGee muttered under his breath and was rewarded by a cuff to the back of the head courtesy of Ziva.

'Just because Tony's acting like Gibbs does not mean you get to behave like Tony!' she reprimanded.

'Hey guys, get in here!' Abby yelled impatiently.

'What have you got, Abbs?'

'Tony told me to start by checking out the director's personal files. They were encrypted of course but she used an encryption algorithm she asked us to develop for her. If I hadn't known where to start it would have taken me days to crack.'

'Makes sense,' McGee interrupted, 'Vance has major codebreaking skills. When I was trying to figure out that code that Decker left behind he came up with more than one idea I hadn't thought of.'

'In that case Abby, copy all the relevant files off the NCIS server then overwrite them. If he's as good as McGee says he is, he'll likely be right behind us.'

'Consider it done, acting boss man,' Abby readily agreed. 'Don't you want to know what I found out?' Looking at the glares being focused on her by the other members of the team, she decided to continue. 'Get this. Director Shepard had Vance under surveillance and what's more, I think I know why. Take a look at his personnel file. Does anything look a little hinky to you?'

'The guy sure was promoted quickly. Every time a position became available he was straight in there.' McGee observed.

'Well done, McGee! Have a biscuit!' Abby congratulated him.

'But how does that help us? We can't really go to Vance and say "You were promoted too quickly, give us our team back and we won't tell anyone,"' Tony pointed out.

'Patience, Special Agent DiNozzo,' Abby reprimanded. 'That is not the interesting bit. Take a look at the circumstances of his promotions. Look at this guy. Vance's team leader, dies in a car crash. Next thing you know, Vance has taken his place. This head of department guy has a heart attack, Vance takes his place. The Assistant Director dies in a bungled street robbery, no suspects, no leads. Vance takes his place. The guy everybody expected to get the Assistant Directorship loses a daughter and resigns to spend more time with his family.'

'And Director Shepard died in a gun battle and Vance has taken her place.' Ziva finished.

'Director Shepard was dying of cancer,' McGee argued, 'He could have just waited a couple of months then taken her place anyway.'

'Which leads us to one of two conclusions,' DiNozzo summarised. 'Either Vance didn't know, which is plausible if she hadn't informed SECNAV, as that would mean Ducky was the only one who did know. She ran the risk of Abby finding out when Ducky handed over those blood samples but she counted on Abby's respect for Ducky to stop her from investigating further. A simple DNA test would have proved whose blood she was testing, but Abby would never go behind Ducky's back to find out.'

'And the second conclusion?' Ziva prompted.

'Whatever's going on that Vance is involved in, it's time sensitive. Whoever's behind his rapid rise to power wants results, soon.'

'We know who killed the Director,' McGee continued to argue, 'and much as we'd like to believe otherwise, it wasn't Vance.'

'We know they got to the Director through Decker,' Tony countered. 'We don't know who led them to him. For all we know, Vance could have been responsible for pointing them in the right direction.'

'But speculation and proof are two entirely different things,' Ziva reminded them.

'So we go with what we've got,' Tony decided. 'McGee, take my car and go interview the guy who was up for Assistant Directorship at the same time as Vance. Find out what happened to his daughter and why he really quit. Abbs, I need you to go back to the office and pull the evidence on all the suspicious and not-so suspicious deaths. Re-examine it, and be discreet. We have no idea how far Vance's influence reaches.'

'I'll go with McGee,' Ziva suggested.

'You'll stay here, Ziva,' Tony ordered, 'Our cover story is going to be absolutely useless if Vance finds out we've been out interviewing witnesses. We're going to have to do what we can from here.'

'What about Gibbs? I can't just leave!' Abby objected.

'We'll take care of Gibbs, Abby, I promise,' Tony reassured her, 'Ducky promised he'd call in as soon as he's finished the autopsy he's working on, which will be any minute now, and I really need you to do this now. We're counting on you Abbs.'

'Well, okay,' she finally agreed.

'I want you both to call in every hour. Call Gibbs' phone – it's more plausible for you to be checking up on him and Ziva and I have our cell phones turned off anyway. And guys? Be careful. If either of you feel like you're in any danger, call in - we'll be right there and to hell with our orders. Got it?'

'Got it Boss,' McGee answered instinctively. He didn't bother correcting himself as he and Abby left to carry out their assigned tasks.

'So now what?' Ziva asked when the pair had departed.

'We keep digging,' Tony answered. 'We look into every case Vance has ever been involved with and we find anything that doesn't add up. If this investigation comes to nothing, it'll be because there's nothing to find and we'll have to settle for knowing that Vance is just an opportunistic bastard.'

Their discussion was interrupted by the sound of a car pulling into the driveway, followed by the call of a familiar voice from the hallway.

'Hello?'

'Up here, Ducky,' Tony called in response. The doctor had barely reached the top of the stairs when the sound of another vehicle reached their ears. 'Shit, it's Vance,' Tony hissed after taking a quick glance through the window. 'He must have come to yell at Gibbs for walking out on him.'

'Jethro?' A second voice called out from the ground floor. 'We need to talk.'

'Gibbs really needs to revise his open door policy,' Tony muttered, 'Ducky, stall him. Ziva, get in the closet.'

'I will not.' Ziva responded indignantly.

'Do you want him to send us away?'

'Ok, I'll do it, but you'd better watch where you put your hands,' she retorted. The pair quickly climbed into the closet and pulled the door shut behind them. 'Tony,' she complained, 'your elbow is sticking in my stomach.'

'That's not my elbow.'

'Tony!'

'Ziva! Shhh!' They could hear Ducky's sonorous tones clearly through the door.

'Director, what an unexpected surprise, but I'm afraid that if you've come to speak to Jethro, you have had a wasted journey. I'm afraid I cannot permit it.'

'Doctor Mallard, let me explain the situation to you. I am the Director, you are the Medical Examiner. It does not fall to you to permit me anything.'

'I'm afraid you've hit the nail on the head rather. It is in matters of medicine that I outrank you and on medical grounds that I cannot permit your interview,' the doctor explained, 'Special Agent Gibbs is quite unwell and while I must confess I have not yet had the opportunity to carry out a full medical examination, I can assure you that he is far from well enough to speak with you right now.'

'How convenient,' Vance retorted.

'Be assured, Director, that if Special Agent Gibbs merely did not wish to speak with you, he would make it abundantly clear. On the other hand, given what Agent Gibbs has been through over the past year, the surprise is not that he is ill but instead that his body is still functioning at all. I must ask you, Director, to refrain from…' The doctor's monologue was cut short as Vance stormed up the stairs and headed straight for the sick agent's bedroom. He paused as he caught sight of the prone figure on the bed. 'I trust you are satisfied now?' the doctor continued. Vance nodded.

'This time, Doctor. Be assured, however, that I will be watching you.' He turned and made his way back the way he had come. As soon as the Director had departed, the doctor turned his attention to his patient.

'Good Lord Jethro, you do look dreadful,' he announced as he began his examination. 'You certainly don't do things by halves.' The placing of a cold stethoscope on his patient's chest did what the sound of his voice had failed to do and caused the sleeping man to stir. Gibbs opened his eyes and looked blankly at the figure hovering above him.

'Ducky?' he ventured.

'Quite so, my dear friend. How do you feel?' There was a pause while the question was considered.

'I'm ok, Duck. Just a little tired.' Gibbs knew the doctor wouldn't believe him as soon as the words left his mouth. Hell, he didn't even believe himself. The doctor smiled knowingly and shook his head.

'I'm afraid not dear boy; you are in fact quite unwell. I would venture to suggest that you are suffering from a rather severe case of influenza complicated by acute exhaustion. Ibuprofen should help somewhat with the symptoms but I'm afraid the only cure is rest.'

'Been resting, Duck.' Gibbs attempted to argue.

'Indeed,' the doctor readily agreed, 'and you must continue to do so. A week's bed rest at least, then, if your condition has sufficiently improved, a further week or two at home before you come back to work.'

'But Duck!,' the sick man protested feebly, attempting to sit up. 'I can't just…'

'This is not up for discussion, Jethro,' the older man firmly but gently pushed him back onto his pillow, 'you need time to recover. I'm sure young Anthony has everything under control.'

'Has he gone, Ducky?' Ziva's voice emanating from the closet interrupted the conversation.

'Some time ago,' Ducky admitted sheepishly. Gibbs watched in bewilderment as two of his agents extricated themselves from the closet.

'How you feeling, Boss?' Tony asked, casting an appraising glance over his friend.

'DiNozzo? What the..?' Gibbs managed.

'Don't worry, Boss. You'll be back to normal before you know it.' Tony grinned and headed for the door. As the two agents left the room, Gibbs rubbed a hand across his face. He looked up at the physician and sighed.

'I don't think I want to know, Ducky. Maybe that rest isn't such a bad idea after all.'


	4. Chapter 4

--

A/N. Apologies for the delay in uploading the fourth instalment of the story – my brain went to sleep on me when I tried to write it last night. Hope it was worth the wait. ;-)

--

McGee's satellite navigation system had guided him flawlessly to his destination and he pulled up outside the house of former NCIS special agent Tom Fitzgerald. After quickly calling Gibbs' phone to check in with his team, he climbed out of the car and approached the front door. He pressed his finger onto the doorbell and waited. After what must have been three or four minutes, a harassed-looking man with silver hair finally answered.

'Mr Fitzgerald?' McGee asked, pulling out his NCIS identification. The older man nodded.

'That's me,' he answered. McGee decided to go for the direct approach.

'Special Agent Timothy McGee. I think you know why I'm here.' Fitzgerald nodded again and held open the door.

'I hadn't expected anyone to figure it out quite so soon, but I've been waiting for this day for months. It was only going to take so long before somebody noticed. You'd better come in.'

--

Abby picked up on the fourth ring but all Tony could hear was the sound of one of her usual music choices blaring in the background.

'Abbs, can you turn that noise down?' DiNozzo demanded. Suddenly there was silence on the other end of the phone.

'Hey Tony, what's up?' Abby's voice was now clearly audible down the line. Tony sighed in relief.

'You missed your one-hour check-in, is everything ok?'

'That can't be right,' she replied immediately, 'I only got here at…' she glanced at her watch then did a double-take. 'Oh. Sorry Tony, I must have gotten distracted.' Ziva's voice could clearly be heard down the phone line.

'Abby, you do realise that our current subject of investigation means that even your lab is not safe. Unless you are with one of us you cannot afford to let your guard down and you really must adhere strictly to your check-in times.'

'I know, Ziva, I'm sorry,' Abby sounded suitably chastised. 'Anyway, since you're on, how's Gibbs?'

'He was a lot more coherent when Ducky woke him up,' Tony informed her. He grinned. 'Ducky's still up there talking to him now. Gibbs fell asleep five minutes in but Ducky didn't seem to mind. Anyway, what progress?'

'Tony, I've been here like, an hour!' Abby protested. DiNozzo wasn't deterred.

'So what have you found?'

'I decided to start with the most recent, so I pulled the evidence from the Assistant Director's murder,' she began. 'There were blood samples from two different sources discovered at the scene – the director's and an unknown, so it looks like he at least managed to injure the guy who killed him. It was a guy, by the way – the amelogenin result confirms it. They managed to get a full DNA profile and ran it through the Federal Database but there were no hits. They sent the results to Interpol but there's a lot of variation between the short tandem repeats analysed in each country so they were never going to get an exact match. Even so, no hits on the common loci. Looks like whoever was responsible managed to stay below the radar, at least until last year. I did find something interesting though. About seven months ago, the profile was removed from the system. Usually they leave them on forever in case anyone who gets added to the database later matches up. The only reason I can think of for removing an evidence profile from the database is that you don't want the source to be identified. Fortunately somebody from the analysis lab thought to add a hardcopy to the file. I've loaded the profile back into the system and I'm running it through the database right now. No results yet.' She paused. 'Ooh, have you been taking lessons from Gibbs?'

'What have you got, Abbs?' Tony replied, correctly interpreting from her question that the search had come up positive.

'Emailing it over now,' she responded. 'Sample matches a body pulled out of the Potomac six and a half months ago identified by facial recognition software as one Anton Kasparov, Russian citizen. He's well known to the CIA and was suspected of stealing naval codes in the mid-1980s. His murder is still unsolved. I'm sending you everything we've got on him.'

'Nice work, Abby,' DiNozzo congratulated her. 'Keep digging and we'll talk to you again in an hour…and be careful.' Tony hung up the phone and glanced across at Ziva. 'Looks like we're on to something.' She smiled back at him.

'There is hope that we may save the team yet,' she admitted. 'Thank you, Tony, for not allowing us to give up.' He returned her smile with a dazzling one of his own.

'Well,' he answered playfully, 'I have to confess to a certain amount of self-interest. I really don't like boats all that much. Since we got stuck on the Chimera I've found them kind of…'

'Spooky?' she suggested. He laughed.

'Besides, where else would I find a partner with such amazing…oww!' he finished as Ziva cuffed him around the head, 'ninja skills…I was going to say ninja skills!' Before she could reply, Gibbs' phone rang again. This time it was McGee.

'Fitzgerald was quite happy to tell me everything,' he reported. 'He'd been expecting someone to put the pieces together for a while, actually. When the Assistant Director was murdered, everyone expected Fitzgerald to take his place, but a day later his elder daughter died in what appeared to be a climbing accident. That evening he received an email containing two attachments. The first was of his daughter falling backwards off a cliff, videoed from above. The second contained clips of his younger daughter leaving college, going to work, arriving home… There was a message with the attachments – "Resign or she's next". Apparently he suspected Vance of involvement but of course he didn't have any evidence and wasn't prepared to risk his other daughter's life so he did as the message asked. He's a smart guy though – he kept the email. The trail isn't as new as I'd like but I managed to partially trace the origin of the mail. It was sent from the NCIS mainframe. If Vance sent it, he covered his tracks well – I couldn't get any further. I did have a look at the electronic signatures on the video files though. I haven't narrowed it down to an exact model yet but the camera used was definitely of Russian origin.'

'Good work, McGee.' DiNozzo gave the younger agent one of his rare compliments. 'Why don't you head back here and we'll consider our next move. Could you call in and pick up some pizza for Ducky, Ziva, you and me on your way back, oh, and call into NCIS and drop off something for Abby. There should be a credit card in my glove box; just this once you can forge my signature.'

'On it Tony,' McGee readily agreed. 'I'll be there in an hour. You don't want me to get anything for Gibbs?'

'Nope, I have something else in mind for Gibbs,' DiNozzo replied mysteriously.

--

Gibbs was drifting in and out of wakefulness, faintly aware of his friend's voice offering a continuous commentary on what could be any number of subjects. One thing that could be said for Ducky was that he was never short of something to talk about. His presence was oddly comforting; in fact, the constant presence of at least one member of his team over the last several hours had made him feel much less alone than he had before DiNozzo had shown up in his basement. Ever since Tony had taken charge earlier in the day, he had felt as though a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

'Wakey wakey, Boss.' DiNozzo's excessively cheerful voice penetrated his thoughts. Then again, he considered, too much power was never a good thing. He cracked open one eye then the other, surprised as his friend and team-mate waved a bowl of steaming liquid under his nose.

'Chicken soup, DiNozzo?' Even though eating was the last thing on his mind right now, curiosity got the better of him.

'DiNozzo special chicken soup,' he was immediately corrected.

'You made it?'

'Well… I reheated it,' the younger man admitted. 'Expertly, I might add. Eat it, it's good for you.'

'I'm really not hungry, Tony,' he replied. The way he felt, food just didn't have the slightest appeal, though he did appreciate the thought.

'Just a little bit?' Tony persisted, 'The only thing you've eaten in days is that sandwich I made you earlier. You really could do with the nutrients. Of course, McGee's on his way back with pizza. I could call and ask him to get you a spicy pepperoni if you won't eat the soup.' Gibbs was sure that if he could see himself, there would be a noticeable green tinge to his features as he thought about the pizza. He shuddered.

'Maybe I'll stick with the soup,' he conceded, wondering how little he could get away with eating. With Ziva's assistance he managed to pull himself to a sitting position and Tony handed over the tray of soup. He really didn't think he could face it. Maybe if he just sat and held the spoon for a while…

Fortunately for Gibbs, the sound of the front door slamming downstairs drew everyone's attention from the amount of soup he wasn't eating. The noise was followed by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs and McGee appeared in the doorway.

'Hey guys, I think we've got something,' he began breathlessly, 'Abby filled me in on the dead Russian in the frame for the Assistant Director's murder. The name sounded familiar so I tried to remember where I'd heard it before. I figured it out. When I was trying to figure out Decker's code, I came across an old case file. In 1985, a naval warrant office called Walker was convicted of selling codes to the Russians. I pulled the file and found that Kasparov was one of his suspected contacts, though there was never enough evidence to arrest him. I remembered it particularly because Vance seemed really familiar with the case. I did a little more digging. The investigation was carried out by NIS, as NCIS was known back then. The investigating team brought in a probationary agent to help with the investigation because of his advanced training in cryptography. No prizes for guessing who the agent was.'

'I'm thinking it wasn't John Nash?' DiNozzo concluded. 'Let me think. Could it possibly have been our very own Director Leon Vance?'


	5. Chapter 5

--

A/N. Here's the next chapter. It's a short one but there'll be more to follow very soon. :) Thanks for the continued feedback. I like to know that people other than me are enjoying this.

--

'There's got to be something here that conclusively ties Vance to Kasparov,' Ziva thought out loud. The three agents had been poring over Director Shepard's surveillance photos, looking for that final clue that would provide enough evidence for them to obtain an arrest warrant. DiNozzo scrubbed a hand tiredly over his face.

'We know Vance worked on the Walker case and we know but can't prove that Kasparov was Walker's contact,' he began to summarise, 'We know now that Kasparov killed Assistant Director Jackson and that someone from NCIS was involved in getting Fitzgerald out of the picture. What we can't prove is that Vance was in contact with Kasparov or that he was the NCIS employee who sent that email. Until we do, we have absolutely no case.'

'So let's think about this logically,' McGee showed no sign of wanting to give up. It was two in the morning and everyone was tired but they couldn't afford to lose their focus now. 'Director Shepard had Vance under surveillance as early as eighteen months ago. If he had any contact with the Russians, it's bound to have been recorded somewhere.'

'McGee, there are hundreds of thousands of photographs,' Ziva pointed out, 'that's over five hundred days of surveillance photographs. Everyone he met, every time he bought coffee.'

'So we reduce the scope of our search,' he responded. 'Right now we're looking for a photograph that links him to Kasparov, so right away we can discount the last seven months' pictures. Contact is likely to have happened before a plan was put into place or when he had information to pass along. Since we don't know what kind of information he was handing over, we can't check that out right now. We know, however, that something must have been discussed before the murders of the Assistant Director and Fitzgerald's daughter, so we'll start on the day Jackson was killed and work backwards.'

'Sounds like a plan. McGee,' DiNozzo nodded approvingly. He glanced around at the spartan basement, to which they had relocated when Ducky had vetoed the eating of pizza in Gibbs' room, until his eyes came to rest on his colleagues, who were working relentlessly to find him the evidence he'd demanded. 'The best damn investigative team in NCIS,' he muttered to himself. No way Vance was going to win this one.

'I may have something,' Ziva announced after several minutes. 'Three days before Assistant Director Jackson was killed, Vance was photographed talking to this guy in a parking lot. The photographer wasn't able to get a picture of his face but I'd put money on that being Kasparov.' DiNozzo examined the photo closely and began to grin.

'You know what I like about this photo?' he asked. Before anyone could answer, he continued. 'Metallic paint and strip lighting.'

'Sounds like a college rock band,' McGee muttered under his breath.

'No, he's right,' Ziva, having the benefit of being able to look at the photo, was quicker to catch on. 'The strip lighting is causing the metallic paint on Vance's car to reflect light from their surroundings.'

'And unless I'm very much mistaken,' DiNozzo added, 'that,' he pointed at a particular spot on the photograph, 'is a reflection of the contact's face.' McGee peered over their shoulders at the image in question.

'And the software in Abby's lab should easily be able to clean up the image and confirm the man's identity,' he finished. 'It may not be conclusive but it's enough for a warrant.'

'It's more than enough to get Vance suspended,' Tony agreed gleefully. 'Mail it over to Abby and have her call us when she's got something.'

--

Abby had spent a frustrating and completely unproductive few hours searching through evidence but even with her best efforts she hadn't been able to come up with anything further to link Vance to any criminal activity. She was considering heading out for another caffeine boost when she received McGee's email.

'Come on baby, you can do this,' she pleaded with her computer as she skilfully manipulated the imaging software. 'That's it,' she encouraged. 'Come on…yes!' She punched the air in triumph as the facial reflection came into sharp focus. 'And now for the facial recognition software….we have a winner!' she announced to her empty lab. She emailed the results to the team before grabbing her phone to call McGee with an update.

'Timmy, check your email,' she ordered the second he answered, 'the image cleaned up really well. I ran it against Kasparov's face and as you suspected, we have a match. The guy Vance met with in that parking lot was definitely Anton Kasparov.'

'Abbs, that's fantastic, that's all we needed,' McGee replied enthusiastically from the other end of the line.

'Yippee!' Abby yelled, virtually deafening McGee, 'I get to keep Tony and Ziva and Director Vance is…'

'Right here,' a voice sounded from behind her. She turned around, glancing first at the figure in the doorway and then at the large image of Anton Kasparov covering all her screens. She looked back in the direction of the director. The phone slid out of her hand and skidded across the floor.

'Oh crap,' she muttered.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N

A/N. Here's more, as promised. I don't use a beta and my brain is zoning out a bit so apologies for any typos. Enjoy…

--

'Abby! Abby!' McGee yelled frantically, but there was no response. He turned to look at Tony and Ziva. 'I think Vance has Abby,' he informed them.

'Shit,' DiNozzo declared loudly, 'to hell with secrecy, we need to get her back. Grab your gear, let's go.' He ran up the stairs to where Ducky continued to carry on a conversation with an unconscious Gibbs. 'Ducky, can you stay here all night?' he asked.

'Why yes,' the doctor agreed immediately, 'when you told me about Jethro's condition earlier, Mr Palmer volunteered to stay with my mother in case I was needed here. I'm sure they'll be…'

'Thanks Ducky,' the senior field agent cut him off , 'If there's any trouble, call Fornell. Don't trust anyone at NCIS except us. We'll be back as soon as we can. Look after him Ducky.' He ran back down the stairs and out into the driveway, where Ziva already had the car ready. He climbed in and the car immediately reversed out of the driveway and zoomed off down the street.

--

Ziva drove the car at speeds Tony hadn't even thought possible as she covered the few short miles to the NCIS building. McGee was looking decidedly green when they arrived. Nonetheless, he exited the vehicle as quickly as the others and the three rapidly covered the distance to Abby's lab. As they feared, it was totally empty. The lights and instruments had been turned off and the cell phone had been turned off and placed on Abby's desk. It looked like Abby hadn't been down here tonight at all. Fortunately, the team knew better.

'Pull the video surveillance McGee,' DiNozzo ordered. 'Ziva, help him look through it. I need to know what time Vance left and what he was driving. Abby was on the phone when he caught her and he knew it, so he won't have had time to cover his tracks. He needed to get out of the building before we arrived.'

'What about you?' Ziva asked.

'I'll be in MTAC.'

--

'Get me SECNAV, now,' DiNozzo ordered the technician on duty as he stormed into the communications centre.

'Sir, it's four a.m.,' the technician protested, 'you'll have to wait until…' Tony didn't even wait for the sentence to be finished. Turning on his best Gibbs stare, he moved his face until it was only inches away from the technician's.

'I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it. GET. ME. SECNAV. NOW.'

'Yes sir,' the technician gulped and put the call through. Within about ten minutes, the secretary of the navy appeared on screen. It was obvious that he had just been woken up.

'Special Agent DiNozzo, if this is about…' the man began but was cut off by Tony, who had no time for an argument.

'No sir,' DiNozzo answered, knowing what the question was going to be before it was asked. 'Abby Sciuto's been kidnapped.' He paused for a second. 'By Director Vance,' he added. 'I realise how ridiculous this must sound, sir, but please hear me out.' The SECNAV nodded.

'You'd better start at the beginning,' he sighed, 'and you'd sure as hell better not be making this up.'

--

'The technician said Tony left MTAC over ten minutes ago,' McGee informed Ziva as he hung up the phone. Between the two of them they had examined footage from all the surveillance cameras between Abby's lab and the parking garage and had pieced together the director's movements. Having somehow knocked their friend unconscious, Vance had slung Abby's arm over his shoulder and dragged her down to the parking garage. If you didn't look too closely, it appeared as though the director was simply escorting a tired and overworked employee out of the building.

'Bastard,' McGee had said when saw the footage. Vance had thrown the forensic specialist into the back seat of his NCIS issue car and driven away as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Ziva's reaction had been more practical. She had recalled from Director Shepard's files that during the extended surveillance, a GPS tracking device had been fitted to Vance's car. Consultation of the surveillance team's reports had revealed the tracker's ID number and McGee had soon been able to locate the car, travelling south-west on the I-95. They needed to get on the trail as soon as possible but now DiNozzo had disappeared.

--

Tony had left MTAC with the promise of all the backup he needed and had been on his way back to Abby's lab when he had decided instead to duck into the bathroom in the corridor outside. He needed a minute to think. He ran some warm water and washed it over his face.

'What the hell are you doing, Tony?' he asked himself, 'You're going to get them all killed.' He stared at himself in the mirror for what seemed like an eternity before finally losing it. 'Goddamn idiot!' he yelled, punching his reflection hard enough to cause the glass to shatter.

'Tony?' McGee asked hesitantly. He had been on his way to find his friend when he had heard the yelling and followed the sounds into the bathroom.

'I should never have left her here by herself. I should have known something like this would happen,' Tony confessed. He figured McGee was about to tell him the same thing anyway and he might as well save him the trouble.

'You're doing a good job, Tony,' DiNozzo's eyes widened as he heard McGee's reply. 'Hindsight is always 20/20.'

'Gibbs would never have left her alone,' DiNozzo replied, not ready to get rid of his guilt just yet.

'Well as you're so fond of telling us,' McGee retorted, 'you're not Gibbs. Since we're on the subject though, Gibbs would never second guess himself either. Besides, we don't have time for this now, we need to find Abby.' DiNozzo sighed, then smiled slightly.

'You'll make senior field agent yet, McGee. You're right – I need to stop second-guessing myself and focus on the case. How's the search coming?'

'We know where he is,' McGee answered, 'that's what I was coming to tell you.'

'Then what the hell are we waiting for? Let's go get her back.' DiNozzo marched out of the bathroom with McGee right behind him.

--


	7. Chapter 7

A/N

A/N. Another short chapter, but I couldn't fail to take advantage of another cliffhanger, could I? evil grin.

--

'The car's stopped,' McGee informed the rest of the team. 'Single building, well isolated. Pulling up the GPS now.' The image showed a single building, some kind of farmhouse surrounded by fields.

'Approach with caution,' DiNozzo ordered the backup teams through the radio. 'Set up a wide perimeter around the property and stay out of sight. Do not allow anyone to leave unless you receive a direct order from me.' He pulled up the car out of view of the house and he, McGee and Ziva climbed out. 'McGee, with me. Ziva, back door,' he ordered. The three approached the house cautiously and seemingly undetected. 'On three,' Tony whispered to McGee.

Tony took in every aspect of the room as the pair stormed through the door. They appeared to be in some form of kitchen. Vance was standing on the right, near to Abby, who was lying on the floor bound, gagged and apparently still unconscious. To the left there were five men, who from their appearance he could assume to be Vance's Russian contacts. All five of them had their guns out and pointed at DiNozzo and McGee. Ziva was nowhere to be seen.

'Federal Agents, drop your weapons,' McGee yelled as though he expected his order to be obeyed. Tony was less optimistic.

'Look guys,' he began, focusing his attention on the man who appeared to be in charge, 'we just came here for Vance and our lab tech. We're not interested in you. There's no way we're going anywhere without Abby and I can't ignore the evidence against Vance but there's no reason you guys can't all walk away from this now. The building's surrounded and there's no way any of you are getting out without my express order. All you have to do is leave Vance and Abby here and walk away. I'll radio out, you'll leave and Vance can face the music alone. I've got no evidence that any of you have committed any crime, hell, I don't even know who you are. Truth be told, until he kidnapped Abby, I didn't even have enough evidence against Vance to get a conviction. Is he really worth that much to you that you'd allow the death of every single person in this room? He's useless to you now anyway. Just walk away.'

'And if we don't?' the Russian who appeared to be the ringleader asked.

'Then I'm afraid my colleague will have to teach you the hard way why you should never choose to ignore rule number nine.' Ziva had entered the room silently and was now holding a knife against the Russian's throat. 'Ziva here used to be a Mossad assassin,' DiNozzo continued. 'How long do you think you'll live?'

'Just walk away?' the Russian suddenly saw the wisdom in the suggestion.

'Leave your weapons behind and I'll make sure you're not stopped.'

'How do I know I can trust you?' The man asked.

'Do you have a choice?' DiNozzo countered. The man thought for a moment then issued an order in Russian. The four men put down their weapons and Ziva collected the fifth weapon. Tony picked up a radio and issued an order to the agents outside. 'This is Special Agent DiNozzo, there will be five men exiting the building in the next minute. Do not apprehend. I repeat, do not apprehend.' He put down the radio. 'Um, Ziva, you can let him go now.' Ziva released her captive and watched the Russians leave. Once they had departed, the team turned their attention to Vance.

'You should never have tried to split us up,' Tony informed the Director, 'if you'd just left us alone you'd still have your job and your freedom. I just wanted you to know that. You really are an idiot, Vance.' Vance remained stubbornly silent.

A noise from the corner indicated that Abby was stirring. The eyes of all three agents flickered in her direction and that was all the distraction Vance needed. He grabbed one of the discarded weapons and aimed it at McGee. DiNozzo saw the danger an instant too late and desperately launched himself at the younger agent. The gun fired and the two agents fell to the floor.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N

A/N. Nearly at the end. This is the last proper chapter and will be followed by an epilogue. Let me know if you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading! :)

--

'Ouch, that hurt,' McGee muttered pulling himself out from under his human shield. 'Damn you're heavy, Tony.' He looked up to see that Ziva had disarmed Vance and dropped him to the ground. She was now kneeling on his back looking for all the world like she only needed the slightest excuse to kill him. McGee looked down at his shirt, surprised to see the splotches of blood soaking through his shirt. He hadn't been hit, had he? He turned to check on his friend. DiNozzo remained lying on the floor; he was awake and breathing but his eyes were glassy with pain. McGee began to search Tony's torso for signs of blood. 'Where are you hit, Tony?' he demanded. Tony focused on controlling his breathing. Rather than answering McGee's question, he reached for his radio.

'All units, move in,' he ordered, 'prisoner and hostage secure, hostage may require medical attention, prisoner requires very strong handcuffs.' His duty almost fulfilled, DiNozzo pulled himself to a sitting position. 'I'm fine, McGee. Help Abby,' he answered belatedly. He stood shakily and made his way over to where Ziva still had Vance secured. 'Leon Vance you're under arrest for murder, attempted murder and kidnapping.' He turned to one of the agents who were streaming through the door. 'Read him his rights,' he ordered. He stopped briefly to check on Abby, who now had her arms tightly wrapped around McGee, before heading for the door.

--

Tony staggered out of the farmhouse and kept walking. Once he was sure he was alone, he sank to his knees. He looked down at his left sleeve, which was now completely soaked with his blood. He had reacted slightly too late, and Vance's bullet had taken a huge chunk out of his upper arm. His arm was pouring with blood and he felt sick and dizzy. Maybe he shouldn't have wandered so far from the house. He had to use all his willpower to stop himself from collapsing and didn't have enough energy left to get his queasiness under control. He leaned forward and emptied the contents of his stomach. Just as he thought he was going to pass out, he felt a soft touch on his shoulder. Forcing himself to remain in the present he turned around to see Ziva standing behind him.

'Abby's been checked out by the paramedics,' she informed him. 'She has a mild concussion but nothing that requires hospital treatment. You should let them check you out too.'

'I'm okay,' he protested at once.

'You're hurt and you're in shock,' she corrected gently, 'the sooner you let them check you over, the sooner we can get back.'

'I need to finish this, Ziva.' He was adamant. She smiled and shook her head, gently reaching down and brushing his sweat-soaked hear away from his face. 'We will finish this together,' she promised and pulled him to his feet, 'after you speak to the paramedics.'

--

It was 10a.m. before Tony found himself back in MTAC. The paramedics had been forced to stitch up his arm at the scene since he had refused to go to the hospital and he had fallen asleep in the car on the way back to NCIS despite Ziva's driving. As a result, he was feeling a little better. He had left the interrogation to Ziva, who had easily extracted a confession. Vance had asked to have several other murders taken into account and was now on his way to the state penitentiary where he would stay until his preliminary hearing.

'You seem to have tied everything up quite neatly,' the SECNAV was saying. Tony forced himself to focus. 'There will need to be further investigations into the Russian angle,' he continued, 'but I think that is best left to another team. I understand you are due to ship out to the Reagan today.' Tony's heart sank. After everything the team had put themselves through, surely the SECNAV wasn't just going to uphold Vance's orders. He stiffened.

'Yes, sir.'

'Well you aren't going to be any use to them looking like that,' the man decided. Tony's hopes increased a little. 'I'll send somebody else,' he continued. 'In fact, given the mess you appear to have gotten yourself into in only twenty-four hours away from Gibbs' command, I'm inclined to force you to work for Gibbs for the next twenty years. As for the rest of your team, if they were stupid enough to follow you into this, you deserve each other. Consider your team reinstated.' Tony sighed with relief.

'Thank you sir.'

'Take the week off, DiNozzo, you look like crap.'

'Yes sir.' Tony turned round to leave.

'And DiNozzo?' the SECNAV called out from behind him. 'Good work.'

'Thank you sir.'

--

'I'm telling you Jethro, you're not going anywhere,' Ducky insisted again.

Gibbs had awoken to find his team gone and Ducky without a plausible explanation. He had forced himself to shower and dress, despite the continuous protestations of his physician. Having finally summoned the energy to walk downstairs, however, he hit upon another problem. He really wasn't in any fit state to drive and Ducky was refusing to take him anywhere. In addition to this, the older man had blocked his car into the driveway and was now blocking the front door. Gibbs knew that right now, he wouldn't even have the energy to manhandle his friend out of the way. He wasn't even sure which of the two Duckys he was seeing was the real one.

'My team are out there Ducky.' Ducky sighed and attempted once again to talk some sense into his friend.

'Jethro, they are professional federal agents and you don't even know where it is they've gone. In your current state, you couldn't even outmanoeuvre me. How much use do you think you'd be even if you found them? You need to go back to bed.'

'I need to know what's happening to my team, Duck.' The older man glanced out of the window and smiled.

'Well if you really must know, it would appear that they are pulling into the driveway.' Relief flooded through Gibbs' body and the remnants of the adrenaline that had been keeping him standing disappeared. His knees buckled and he crashed to the floor. With Ducky's help he managed to stand again and was just collapsing onto the couch when the team walked through the door.

'Gibbs, what are you doing out of bed?' Abby's concussion didn't seem to slow her down as she flung herself into his arms.

'Was worried, Abbs,' he managed to say as she hugged him so tightly that he thought he was going to pass out.

'We're okay, silly,' she answered at once, 'Well, I got knocked out and Tony got shot, but we're fine, really. You should go back to bed.' Gibbs' eyes widened and he turned to take a closer look at his senior field agent, who had collapsed onto the couch next to him.

'You look like crap, DiNozzo,' he concluded.

'Pot, kettle, Boss. Have you seen yourself lately?' He grunted. Time to steer the conversation in a different direction.

'What happened?'

'Let's just say the only thing Vance is going to be in charge of for the foreseeable future is his cell at the state penitentiary,' Tony answered tiredly. Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

'You obviously did a good job.'

'Well, you know how it is,' Tony answered. 'Got the bad guy, saved the girl, upset the SECNAV…' At Gibbs' questioning glance, he decided to elucidate. 'He used words like stupid and mess… Said he was going to punish me by making me stay on your team for the next twenty years,' he gestured towards Ziva and McGee. 'Them too.'

The two men shared a smile.

--

Former NCIS director Leon Vance took a deep breath as he walked into the exercise yard. He still couldn't believe this was happening. The Russians had outnumbered the NCIS team five to three and they had just stood up and walked away. It was unbelievable – he had thought he knew too much for the Russians to just let him go. Maybe he had been wrong. He glanced up questioningly as a large man began walking towards him. He didn't see the knife that killed him until it was too late. As he lay on the ground bleeding to death he realised that the Russians hadn't just let him go after all…


	9. Epilogue

--

A/N. Well, that was it – the first episode of season six the way I would have written it. Hope you all enjoyed it. Here's the epilogue. As it's getting on for 3a.m., I feel I should finish with 'Thank you and good night'. So I have. Thanks for reading. :)

--

Five days later:

Tony watched from a distance as the man knelt at the graveside. He had gone to check up on Gibbs, and finding him gone, could think of only one place he was likely to be. He gave his friend a few minutes' privacy before he approached.

'Does Ducky know you're here?' he asked from several feet away to give Gibbs time to compose himself.

'Nope.' His friend's voice was raw with emotion and Tony sensed that Gibbs wasn't ready to be the one doing the talking just yet.

'She saved us all again the other day,' Tony continued, 'without all those surveillance files she left for us we'd never have had any real evidence on Vance. Guess you could say she's still watching over us.' They thought in silence for several minutes, each contemplating their own experiences of Jenny Shepard.

'She's really gone, isn't she?' Gibbs' question broke the silence.

'Yeah….yeah Boss, she is.'

'Why her, Tony?' The older man stood and walked the few feet to where DiNozzo was standing. 'Why her?' Gibbs had never looked at him like this before – pleading, almost begging for an answer. Tears welled up in Gibbs' eyes and he allowed them to unashamedly flow down his cheeks. Tony's heart broke for his friend. Not knowing what else to do, he reached out and pulled the older man into a hug. Gibbs didn't resist and Tony sighed in relief as he realised that he had made the right choice.

'I miss her, Tony.' The younger man held his friend tightly as tears continued to stream down his cheeks. Finally Gibbs pulled away. Tony kept a hand on his shoulder as he examined the older man closely.

'Are you going to be okay?' Gibbs nodded.

'Eventually.' DiNozzo realised that it was the best answer he could hope for under the circumstances. Realising he was going to unnerve his friend if he continued to show this level of emotion, Gibbs decided to change the subject. 'You lead them well, you know?' This time, Tony's instincts weren't so accurate.

'Boss, if you were thinking about going back to Mexico, you'd tell me, right?' Gibbs smiled slightly and shook his head.

'I wouldn't do that to you again, Tony. I made that mistake once before. I know where I belong now. I can't say I'll never think of it but I promise you I won't leave again.' Tony smiled. Gibbs' word was good enough for him.

'Let's get you home, Boss,' he suggested, 'I don't think this quite matches up with Ducky's idea of bed rest. Besides, you're freezing and you're going to get pneumonia if you stay out here much longer.' His statement was confirmed as Gibbs lapsed into a coughing fit. He draped his coat around the older man and bundled him into the car. They could come back for Gibbs' car later.

'Thanks, Tony. For everything.' Gibbs' eyes conveyed the depth of feeling, letting his friend know everything he wasn't saying.

'Anytime, Boss.' Tony's words echoed those of six days earlier.

'Oh, and Tony?' Gibbs decided it was time to lighten the mood slightly. 'You tell anyone that I let you hug me…' Tony grinned across from the drivers' seat.

'U.S.S. Ronald Reagan? Got it Boss…'


End file.
